1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in video conferencing
2. Description of the Related Art
Video communications have evolved over the years from a simple video telephone concept to a sophisticated network for allowing multiple users to participate in a video teleconference. Similarly, wide area data networks like the Internet in the form of the so-called World Wide Web (or simply the “web”) have become increasingly important in data communication and so as well as an infrastructure hosting a video server for worldwide video conference.
A video conferencing network includes several remote terminals interconnected through a network. One example of a video conferencing network can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,829 to Tompkins et al. which is incorporated herein by reference.
Video conference is an opportunity for business communication to reduce travel costs and for the video conference itself cost reduction is a key to further increase the use of video conferences in every-day life and using the Internet may be a promising way to further reduce the costs associated with video conferences. At the same time, proper billing of services has to be taken care of.
In a typical video conference participants see one another on a display which may be at a computer terminal or on a large screen. U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,628 to Sawyer discloses a video conference system in which advertising appears on the display during the video conference. Sawyer further discloses that the advertising can be targeted to the user based upon preferences for each individual user.
Companies find that individual users avoid targeted advertising or promotional content prior to, during, or after a video conference. Therefore, there is a need for a video conference system and method for offering video conference services to users of the web that provides incentives for individual users to view targeted advertising or promotional content.